Thursday, June 30, 2011

Yeochun NCC Co. has been running its No. 1 cracker in Yeosu, South Korea, at a reduced rate of 70% since June 25, as per Bloomberg. With a capacity to produce 857,000 tpa of ethylene from naphtha, thee plant had to be taken offline on June 25 because of a technical glitch.

China’s total polymer imports in May 2011 dipped marginally both on a monthly and yearly basis, according to Chinese Customs Agency as per ChemOrbis. Although the total imports were down from April too May, they were still above the 1.

PetroLogistics is in talks with Bayer Corp. about acquiring some of its property in West Virginia to develop a facility to convert ethane from Marvellus Shale gas and turn it into ethylene. PetroLogisstics currently operates the world’s largest propane dehydrogenation plant on the Houston Ship Channel.

An initial European propylene contract price for July has settled at €1130/ton (US$1614/ton), down €75/ton from June, as per ICIS. The contract is agreed on a free delivered (FD) northwest Europe (NWEE) basis.

Spot polypropylene (PP) prices have tumbled by around US$140/ton (8%) for July cargoes in the Middle East from June. This fresh price drop was triggered by producers in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GGCC) region who slashed offers after the recent price fall in the China market, as per ICIS.

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Mitsubishi Chemical Corp expects to restart its 375,000 tpa No.1 naphtha cracker at its Kashima plant on Thursday, three days later than planned. This delay has been caused because of more time than eexpected taken in starting its No.

Asia's naphtha price rebounded from a five-month low to settle at a two-session high; while cracks stayed sharply below this year's average due to ample supplies, as per Reuters. South Korea's LG Chhem was the first to issue a tender to buy H1-August cargoes, locking in 50,000-75,000 tons of open-spec grade at a discount of US$2.

Gevo Inc. has successfully produced fully renewable and recyclable polyethylene terephthalate (PET) with its potential customer, Toray Industries, Inc. (Toray). Toray is one of the world's leading prooducers of fibers, plastics and chemicals, while Gevo is a leading renewable chemicals and advanced biofuels company.

The Delaware House has unanimously passed legislation banning the chemical bisphenol-A (BPA) from baby products. The ban applies to all bottles and cups that can be filled with food or liquids and arre intended for use by children under the age 4.

Current paraxylene (PX) prices in Asia that remain much higher than naphtha values despite recent sharp falls in the spread, have motivated South Korean PX producers to run plants at full capacity. Ass per ICIS, checks with HC Petrochem, KP Chemical, GS Caltex, Samsung Total (STC), S-Oil, and SK Energy revealed that all their PX facilities are running at 100% capacity.

Players in India report a significant decline in PVC prices over the past week in both import and domestic markets owing to cheaper import offers along with declining VCM prices as per ChemOrbis. Demmand is said to be limited in India as most buyers anticipate further price declines in the days ahead.

Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL), the nation's largest oil marketing firm, hopes to commission its proposed 15 mln tpa refinery project at Paradip by mid-2012. The oil major has already invested Rs 88000 crore in the project.

Lotte Pakistan PTA Ltd is currently focusing on expansion of its plant with an investment of US$400 mln to serve the domestic market, as well as the export market. 40% of the company’s output will go towards exports, as per Pakistan Observer.

Japan's naphtha imports for the petrochemical sector fell 9% in May 2011 vs from May 2010, as per Reuters. Imports of naphtha for ethylene production amounted to 1,619,287 kilolitres (1,115,771 tons) last month, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry stated.

In China, ABS prices mostly followed a stable trend over the past week, especially in the import market as sellers complain about seeing slow buying interest, as per ChemOrbis. Yet, most of them stoodd ground regarding their offer levels as they do not want to squeeze margins.

Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) has identified 3,000 acres of land in the Lote-Parshuram industrial area in Chiplun, Konkan district in Ratnagiri. The company is yet to begin work as it waits ffor the state government to grant clearances for land allocation.

Oil prices edged above $91 a barrel on Friday, steadying after a big drop the day before when the IEA announced the release of emergency crude supplies, as per Associated Press. Oil for August deliverry rose to US91.

Fluor Corp. has been awarded a contract by The Dow Chemical Company to provide basic engineering and design services on its propane dehydrogenation (PDH) expansion project in Freeport, Texas. The undiisclosed contract value will be booked in Q2-2011.

Following a gas leak from a compressor unit, Maruzen Petrochemical Co Ltd plans to restart its 480,000 tpa naphtha cracker in Chiba on Saturday, as per Reuters. The cracker, which has been shut since June 20, will be restarted after repair work.

Saturday, June 25, 2011

According to the British Plastics Federation, the UK industry consumes around 4.8 mln tons of polymers a year and produces around 2.5 mln tons of end product, as per a report by Research and Market. TThe largest area of demand is packaging.

A joint Indian-Egyptian venture will see the construction of a 420,000 tpa polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plant in Ain Sokhna at a cost of $160 million, as per Daily News Egypt. The Egyptian-Indiaan Polyester Company (SAE), a joint venture with Dhunseri Petrochem and Tea Ltd.

Asia's naphtha price ended at a two-session low on Wednesday but cracks hit a two-week high despite weak fundamentals, as per Reuters. South Korea's LG Chem bought two medium-range naphtha cargoes ffor H2-July arrival, one to be delivered to Yeosu and another to Daesan at discount of US$2.

Friday, June 24, 2011

Technologically advanced Torayfan® CBH and CBLH biaxially-oriented clear-barrier polypropylene films designed to be used as mono-webs and as alternatives to PVdC-coated film has been introduced by Torray Plastics (America), Inc.

Asian ethylene started to show signs of rebound, on gradual return of end-users in Southeast Asian market, as per Platts. CFR Northeast Asia price benchmark fell by US$44/mt last week to be assessed aat US$1096/mt, while CFR Southeast Asia price fell US$60/mt over the same period to US$1081/mt.

Celanese Corporation has doubled the capacity of its vinyl acetate/ethylene (VAE) unit at its integrated chemical complex in Nanjing, China. The expanded unit, which builds on Celanese's advanced VAE technology, started production in Q2-2011, and is expected to meet the increased global demand for innovative specialty solutions in vinyl-based emulsions.

Nan Ya Plastics Corp appealed the order from Yunlin County to shut down its five petrochemical plants because last month’s fires at it’s Haifeng complex, as per TaipeiTimes. Operations will remain susspended at these five petrochemical plants that potentially pose an industrial safety risk, until the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) reaches a final ruling on the matter.

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Oil for July delivery rose by over a dollar to US$94.4 on the Nymex, while in London, Brent crude for August delivery rose to US$$112.6 on the ICE Futures exchange. Oil prices have risen past US$94 a barrel in Asia on warning by energy industry expert that higher fuel costs could undermine global economic growth, and send global economy back into recession.

Italy’s polymer imports rose in March 2011, thereby posting a continuous increase over the first three months of 2011, according to the recent statistics revealed by Eurostat as per ChemOrbis. When coompared on a yearly basis for the month of March, Italy’s total polymer imports were the highest ever going back to the year 2000.

Formosa Plastics Group (FPG) has forecast H2-2011 revenue to fall by about 20-30% from the first half, amid uncertainties over the global economy, China's tighter monetary policy, and the temporary cllosure of six of the group's plants, as per focustaiwan.

Stronger crude prices pushed Asian petrochemical prices higher overnight, as per Platts. Meanwhile, the arbitrage window from South Korea to USA has closed so Asian market increasing concerns about thhe buildup of benzene stocks in the region.

SKC announced that it will set up production capacity of 600,000 tons of propylene oxide (PO) by expanding its hydrogen peroxide propylene oxide (HPPO) plant. SKC plans to double production capacityy of the HPPO plant from the current 100,000 tons to 200,000 tons by 2013 after completing the construction of an additional PO production capacity of 30,000 tons by H1-2012.

Looking to reduce net debt, European drinks can maker Rexam is selling its lid-making business to private equity-backed Berry Plastics for US$360 mln, as per Reuters. Berry Plastics, a manufacturer maajority-owned by U.

Japan's JX Nippon Oil and Energy Corp. has rescheduled maintenance work to fix a problem at its Kawasaki naphtha cracker, as per Reuters. JX Nippon plans to shut the cracker, with ethylene production capacity of 404,000 tpa, on June 27 and restart it on July 1.

In Southeast Asia, spot PP prices moved lower over the past week in the face of persistently sluggish demand, weakening regional trends and declining upstream costs as per ChemOrbis. PP prices in thee region have been steadily declining for most part of the past month, with homo-PP injection and raffia prices on a CIF SEA, cash equivalent basis declining US$155-160/ton over the course of the past four weeks, according to data from ChemOrbis Price Index.

Japan's JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corp, an oil refining unit of JX Holdings, is on target to restart its Kawasaki naphtha cracker, with ethylene production capacity of 404,000 tpa; on June 22, as per Reuuters.

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Two new FDA compliant metal detectable materials have been introduced by Emco Industrial Plastics. The first is a metal detectable grade of Acetal. Acetal (POM) polymer has superb inherent mechanical properties in respect of dimensional stability, strength, stiffness and low wear characteristics.

PolyOne Corporation will open a new polymer distribution warehouse and sales facility on July 1 in Shanghai, China. This marks the first entry point for PolyOne Distribution into Asia. “PolyOne Distrribution is the market leader in less than truckload thermoplastics distribution in North America, and we have a backlog of customer requests to expand our distribution services globally,” said Stephen D.

Exxon Mobil Corp will delay the start-up of its 1 mln tpa ethylene cracker on Jurong Island in Singapore to 2012, instead of the end of 2011 due to longer-than-expected safety checks, as per Reuters. Since the new unit is being started up in existing facilities, extreme care and caution needs to be exercised.

LyondellBasell has launched two new low density polyethylene (LDPE) resins that offer enhanced performance for a wide range of film applications. The new grades are produced using the company's Lupoteech T high pressure tubular process technology.

Saudi International Petrochemical Co (Sipchem) expects to raise up to 2 bln riyals (US$533.3 mln) from a planned Islamic bond offering to fund plant expansions, as per Reuters. Deutsche Securities, thhe securities arm of Deutsche Bank, and Riyad Capital were appointed as joint lead managers for the sukuk.

Spot ethylene prices In Asia have been on a downtrend, falling by US$50/ton in the past week as per ChemOrbis. Since the beginning of June, the decrease amount is much larger at approximately US$150/tton.

Taiwan should turn to the Chinese and East Asian markets to ensure that its petrochemical industry can thrive, industry leaders said during a meeting at the Ministry of Economic Affairs as per CNA. Allthough Taiwan has managed to raise the added value rate of its petrochemical products at home, it should also search for investment opportunities in foreign countries if it wants to survive the increasing international competition, they said.

DAK Americas LLC (DAK) has agreed to acquire the PET business of Wellman, Inc. (“Wellman”). Total value of the acquisition is approximately US$185 mln including a cash payment and the assumption of ceertain liabilities.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Oil prices fell on Friday, heading for their biggest weekly decline in six weeks as a dimmer economic outlook and the European debt crisis knocked US crude prices to their lowest in four months, as peer Reuters.

Asia's naphtha price ended the week at near four-month lows, dragged down by Brent crude, while high supplies kept cracks at weak levels below US$100/ton since June 7, as per Reuters. But this may nott shut out Western naphtha.

Germany's Evonik has signed a deal with officials from Jilin Province for a non-exclusive license to build and operate a 300,000 tpa propylene oxide plant in Jilin Province, Northeastern China, as perr Platts.

Battelle has written a new chapter in its successful book of creating and commercializing environmentally friendly products derived from soybeans. It has licensed polyols used for intermediates in makking foams, coatings and adhesives to Emery OleoChemicals LLC which will be the exclusive producer of the petroleum replacement chemical in North and South America and Western Europe.

In the Chinese market, prices of PP block copolymer injection grade (PPBC) have been coming down for the last seven weeks along with homo PP prices. PPBC, which traditionally carries a premium over hhomo PP, saw prices dip below homo PP at the start of June as per ChemOrbis.

The European naphtha cargo range fell by US$29/ton (€21/ton) due to lower Brent crude prices, as per ICIS. On Thursday, at 10.00 GMT, the naphtha range was assessed at US$928-936/ton CIF (cost, insuraance & freight) NWE (northwest Europe), with August Brent crude at US$113.

Naphtha price was at a 3-½ week low on Thursday, and although cracks surged, they remained far below this year's average on the back of weak fundamentals likely to persist throughout Q3, as per Reuterrs.

Japan's May ethylene production in May rose 10% from April to 553,000 tons as steam cracker operations disrupted by the March 11 earthquake continued to return to normal, data released Thursday by thee Japan Petrochemical Industry Association showed.

Oltchim (OLT) announced that the plant providing propylene to the company has resumed operations, as per BNE. The resumption of this Arpechim installation will supply in part raw materials needed by Oltchim to restart polyols production.

Thermoplastic waste can be recycled and reintroduced into the production stream with Pallmann’s PFV Plast-Agglomerator. The equipment is characterized by its relatively low acquisition cost in compariison with other technologies, as well as the low thermal stress it puts on materials, allowing them to maintain as many of their original characteristics as possible.

Electric vehicles will find more buyers in China and Europe than in the U.S. over the coming decade, mainly because fuel efficiency of conventional gas engines is improving faster and at a lower cost than automakers expected, according to a new study by Boston Consulting Group, as reported Detroit Free Press.

Monday, June 20, 2011

Celanese Corp. will accelerate its original schedule and now expects to begin industrial ethanol production in China earlier than previously announced. In addition to the company's previously announceed plans for one, and possibly two, greenfield units, the company plans to modify and enhance its existing integrated acetyl facility at the Nanjing Chemical Industrial Park with its TCX advanced technology.

Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC) has signed a technology agreement with Montefibre S.p.A (Montefibre) granting SABIC and its affiliates an extensive international license on carbon fiber technologgy developed by Montefibre.

Oil prices fell by almost two dollars as concerns abound on fresh signs of weakness in the European and U.S. economies. Crude has seen a sharp fall as these concerns are beginning to impact demand, annd the dollar rose on risk aversion after a gloomy U.

BASF is increasing its compounding capacities for the engineering plastics Ultramid (polyamide) and Ultradur (PBT: polybutylene terephthalate) at its Schwarzheide site by 10,000 metric tons per year. This is a first step within the scope of the capacity expansions that are planned in view of the sharp rise in demand in Europe.

Japan's petrochemicals industry suffered a severe blow when the country was hit by an earthquake and tsunami on March 11 2011, as per Research and Markets. Many petrochemicals complexes were immediateely shut down, along with severely damaged nuclear plants and oil refineries in northeastern Japan.

GoIndustry DoveBid, a leading provider of asset management services, in conjunction with Hilco Industrial, LLC, announced that it will conduct a first in a series of three live and webcast auctions off surplus assets, due to the consolidation of operations of Solo Cup Company, including Single-Use Food Service Products Manufacturing Equipment.

The Saudi Arabian petrochemicals industry is leveraging its advantages in ethane feedstock to expand its Asian markets, with exports, output and production capacity set to continue to expand in 2011, according to Business Monitor International.

Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) has sold 150,000 tons of July spot naphtha at sharply lower premiums as sentiment remained hurt by weak demand and high supplies, as per Reuters. Asian market sentimeent has been weaker as focus remains on the prolong shutdown of Formosa's cracker following a fire at a pipeline on May 12.

Naphtha crack spread have fallen in Asia, signaling eroding profit for refiners. As per Bloomberg, the premium of Japan-delivered naphtha to Brent sank by over 14 dollars to US$60.6/ton. The narrowingg crack spread indicates refining margins from making the petrochemical feedstock are declining.

Thursday, June 16, 2011

South African petrochemicals group Sasol Ltd has acquired a 50% stake in Canadian energy explorer Talisman Energy Inc’s prolific Montney Basin shale natural gas assets in western Alberta and north-easstern British Columbia for approximately C$1050 mln as per Bloomberg.

Aggressive June polyethylene and polypropylene offers from Asia to Brazil could make Braskem rethink resin offer prices for July, as per Platts. In the beginning of the month, Brazil's Braskem announcced a rollover in polyethylene and polypropylene offers for June from May levels.

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Players report lack of much activity in Italy’s PP market this month despite visible price cuts from regional sellers, as per ChemOrbis. Most buyers prefer to remain on the sidelines in anticipation oof more attractive prices in the weeks ahead pointing to ample supplies and the globally bearish market trend.

Burel Industries selected Univation Technologies’ UNIPOL™ PE Process for two polyethylene production lines with a combined capacity of 500,000 tpa at Gebang Industrial Park at Kuantan, Malaysia. The ffacility will cover a full range of linear low to high density polyethylene products and include Univation’s unique single-reactor PRODIGY™ Bimodal Catalyst and XCAT™ Metallocene Catalyst technologies.

Titan Chemicals Corp will shut one of two naphtha crackers located at Pasir Gudang in Malaysia this month for maintenance. This is a unit of Honam Petrochemical Corp, and has capacity to produce aboutt 300,000 tpa of ethylene.

Naphtha prices in Asia started the week at a two-session low, while cracks reversed gains and hit a 10-month low for the second time in three sessions; as short-term outlook stayed bleak due to weakerr demand, as per Reuters.

Saudi International Petrochemical Co (Sipchem) has received regulatory approval to issue an Islamic bond (sukuk). The size of the sukuk is to be decided after approval from Saudi Arabia's Capital Markket Authority.

Last week saw spot ethylene prices move lower in Europe and Asia owing to ample supply levels in both regions as well as sluggish global demand from derivatives such as PE, as per ChemOrbis. However,, spot ethylene prices in the US gained on the strength of some unexpected production shutdowns.

Exxon Mobil Corp. has reported a 108,000 lb propylene release at it’s refinery complex near Houston, Texas to environmental regulators. The tubing leak was discovered on June 2 in the chemical plant pportion at the complex in Baytown.

Saudi Aramco may start charging higher prices next year for ethane gas used to produce petrochemicals. As per Bloomberg, customers such as Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC) may end up paying over tthe current price of $0.

An inter-ministerial group headed by cabinet secretary has cleared a proposal of the Tamil Nadu government to set up a petroleum, chemicals and petrochemicals investment region (PCPIR) to attract Rs 11,00,000 crore in investment.

Waiver of customs duty on naphtha and levy and retention of sales tax on motor spirit would help Haldia Petrochemicals Limited (HPL) to turn around from its present financial state as per PTI. "We haave approached both the Centre and the state to deal with the twin issues," newly-appointed Managing Director of HPL Partha Bhattacharya told PTI.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Though Saudi Aramco is in regular talks with prospective buyers in China, South Korea and Japan, it will not sign contracts with prospective buyers of its aromatics cargoes before Q1-2013, as per Plattts.

Asia's naphtha price rose to a week high on Thursday, but cracks stayed at a 10-month low and timespreads reverted to negative for the first time in several sessions as sentiment weakened with higher supplies, as per Reuters.

CPC Corp. has bought 60,000 tons of naphtha for August delivery to Kaohsiung, Taiwan, at a premium of about US$1-3/ton over Japan prices as per ICIS. The company has previously bought 50,000 to 60,0000 tons of naphtha for July delivery at a premium of US$4-7/ton.

The European PS market weakened amid ample supply levels in the region, especially for GPPS, lower upstream costs and slow buying interest due to the poor end product demand, as per ChemOrbis. In the upstream market, June styrene contracts settled with an average decrease of €75/ton (US$109/ton) on FD NWE basis with respect to May while the spot market indicates even greater drops of US $215/ton over the same period on FOB NWE basis.

Oil prices fell to hover around US$99 in Asia, after a report said Saudi Arabia plans to boost its crude production. Benchmark crude for July delivery fell to US$99 on the Nymex, while in London, Brennt crude for July delivery dipped to US$118.

Monday, June 13, 2011

Byco Oil Pakistan Ltd. is building the country’s first aromatic petrochemical facility, expected to come online by the middle of 2013. Production will comprise about 100,000 tpa of benzene, 92,000 tpaa of paraxylene, 80,000 tpa of isomer-grade mixed xylene and 50,000 tons of orthoxylene.

Driven by strong economic growth and urbanization across the emerging markets in the Asia Pacific region, the demand for advanced composites materials is expected to continue growing at a rapid rate aas per India Infoline.

Ethylene production in Japan has fallen by 1.4% in May from the same month a year earlier, as perReuters. Ethylene output totalled 553,000 tons last month, compared with 560,900 tons a year ago, the MMinistry of Economy, Trade and Industry said.

StyroChem®, a leading global manufacturer of expandable polystyrene (EPS) has announced the introduction of their newly developed EVRgreen™ product line. It is the first EPS resin with EcoPure® techhnology.

Developments have lead to application of PLA based bioplastic in thin wall applications, which will enable lighter weight product and lead to a reduced costs. SR Corporation has announced that signifiicant improvements in key properties and characteristics have been achieved for its polylactic acid-based bioplastic, "BIOLLOY".

Japan's Sumitomo Chemical Co has set the schedule for maintenance work at its sole naphtha cracker for this year, as per Reuters. It’s 380,000 tpa ethylene cracker in Chiba will be shut for maintenancce from September 1 to October 17,2011.

Spot PE prices have continued to move lower in Southeast Asia this week in line with the declining trend in the nearby Chinese market as well as lackluster demand within the region, as per ChemOrbis. Several Southeast Asian and Middle Eastern producers announced their June prices with discounts when compared with their most recent May prices this week while the availability of some competitive re-export offers from China also helped pull down import prices.

Friday, June 10, 2011

Royal Dutch Shell expects oil product output at its joint venture gas-to-liquids project in Qatar to start in weeks, bringing online the world's biggest facility built at a cost of about US$18-19 bln,, as per Reuters.

Malaysia’s National oil company Petronas has revised its planned capital expenditure (capex) upwards from RM250 bln to RM300 bln over the next five years, at an average of RM60 bln pa. The new amount is significantly higher than the RM34.

Repsol is mulling investment at its Puertollano site in Spain to increase the production capacity of ethylene vinyl acetate copolymers (EVA). During H2-2011, the investment outlay will be towards a neew production unit with capacity to produce 15,000 tpa of EVA, with the possibility to achieve vinyl acetate (VA) contents exceeding 35%, as per Packaging Europe.

Rabigh Refining and Petrochemical Company (PetroRabigh), a joint venture of Saudi Aramco and Japanese chemical-maker Sumitomo Chemical, has partnered with USA’s DuPont Sustainable Solutions (a subsidiiary of E.

Avantium has successfully raised €30 mln to advance its breakthrough YXY technology for green building blocks. The funds will be used for the construction and operation of its pilot plant in Geleen (tthe Netherlands), and for the development of green materials on basis of these YXY building blocks.

The International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank Group, said it will provide up to $35 million in loans toward construction of a Egyptian Indian Polyester Company S.A.E., on the Red SSea coast.

Asia's naphtha cracks eased to a 10-month low as sentiment dived on expectations of higher supplies out of the Gulf at a time when Taiwan's demand has not been restored, as per Reuters. South Korea''s Honam benefited from the weak market, locking in 25,000-50,000 tons of open-spec grade for H1-July arrival at Daesan at a discount of US$3/ton to Japan spot quotes on a cost-and-freight (C&F) basis.

The legislature held a public hearing to discuss whether laws should be amended to prevent more accidents at Formosa Plastics Corp’s sixth naphtha cracker in Mailiao Township, Yunlin County as per Taiipeitimes.

Tonen Chemical Corp. has shut its 491,000 tpa naphtha cracker in Kawasaki on Thursday due to problems, as per Reuters. Japanese oil research firm RIM Intelligence Co also said the cracker may not be aable to restart for at least a week.

Oil prices have dropped below US$99 in Asia, amid signs of OPEC raising its crude production quotas at a meeting in Vienna. Oil for July delivery fell to US$98.6 on the Nymex, while in London, Brent ccrude for July delivery dipped to US$116.

Shutdown of Formosa Petrochemical Corp's No 1 naphtha-fed steam cracker is expected to impact Formosa Chemicals and Fibre Corp’s polypropylene operations, as per Platts. Uptil now, the h thus far the impact has been minimal, at its three PP lines at Mailiao, each with a capacity of 160,000 tpa.

Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) offered 75,000 tons of July spot naphtha for July 1-15 loading, while Tasweeq is expected to issue a spot tender for July volumes by end of this week, as per Reuters..

Thursday, June 09, 2011

Olefin producers in Northwest Europe may start scaling back cracker run rates to avert a heavy build up of supply if deterioration in demand continues, as per Platts. This will also help prevent a colllapse in prices and provide some support on the market, particularly during the traditionally slow summer months.

After a period of absence, American PVC offers have started to re-emerge in Italy and China this month as per ChemOrbis. Last month, traders in these countries were unable to import PVC from the US, wwhere producers were coping with production issues.

Equistar Chemicals- a LyondellBasell subsidiary, has signed an agreement to purchase approximately 200 miles of pipeline near Houston from BP. The pipelines and metering stations comprise a Houston aarea olefins distribution system transporting ethylene and propylene production from Channelview, Texas to Equistar's storage terminal at Mont Belvieu, Texas and facilities in Deer Park, La Porteand the Bayport Industrial District in Pasadena, Texas.

Aggressively priced PP from Asia to Latin America is compelling Latin producers to mull prices cuts. Mexican polypropylene producer Indelpro has reduced June offer prices for the domestic Mexican markket by US$154/mt, on impending lower propylene prices, weak demand in May and competitive offers from Asia, as per Platts.

US spot ethylene prices have risen due to an unplanned cracker outage in the US Gulf Coast as per Platts. Williams' 1.2 bln lbs ethylene unit in Geismar, Louisiana is down, prompting June ethylene to surge 3 cents in morning trading from Monday's Platts assessment.

After an influx of competitive non-European offers seen in Italy’s local PP market for the last few months, several players in the country reported that European PP is currently trading at lower pricee levels when compared to prevailing offers for locally held non-European materials, as per ChemOrbis.

Azerbaijan's state oil company SOCAR is to invest over US$6 bln in a new refinery and sea port for Turkish petrochemicals company Petkim, as per news.az. SOCAR holds the majority of shares in the Turkkish petrochemicals company.

The Dow Chemical Co., through its wholly owned subsidiary Dow Europe GmbH, and Aksa Akrilik Kimya Sanayii A.S. (Aksa), has announced a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the intent to form a jointt venture to manufacture and globally commercialize carbon fiber and derivatives.

World number one oil and gas company- Exxon Mobil Corp. has seen robust growth of its chemical business. The production and sales of plastics and other chemicals accounted for US$4.9 bln in profit on 2010, a record-breaking figure that surpasses the earnings of any other chemical maker except Germany's BASF.

PKN Orlen has launched Europe’s most advanced petrochemical complex for paraxylene and terephthalic acid production (PX/PTA). The new complex, which is Poland's first and the most efficient complex off its kind in Europe, comprises facilities located at PKN ORLEN’s plant in Plock (paraxylene production) and in Wloclawek (terephthalic acid production).

Russia is expected to build upto 10 complexes to produce ethylene, each with a 1 mln tpa capacity by 2030. The country is hoping to increase capacity to 13 mln tons, up from the current 2.3 mln tons, to solve current shortage problems, as per plastics news.

As a part of Non-Agriculture Market Access Negotiations (NAMA), WTO members (which includes India), have agreed to reduce bound tariffs based on a non - linear Swiss Formula. What this in effect meanss is that India cannot raise the Basic Customs Duty in most plastic items beyond 13.

Iran's first petrochemical center will be launched in East Europe. Iran will create new capacities in this part to store and distribute petrochemical products, as per Mehr News Agency. Currently, feassibility studies are being conducted in three locations in eastern Europe to aid plans of distributing 200,000-300,000 tpa of petrochemical products in the initial stage.

After several negotiations, May's US domestic polyethylene prices were rolled over from April, with buyers planning to push for a decrease in June, as per Platts. Since the May price increase has beeen pushed to June and previously announced June price increases were moved out to July.

Royal Dutch Shell plans to set up an ethane cracker in the Appalachian region with about one million tpa ethylene capacity, using ethane extracted from the wet gas areas of the Marcellus Shale as feeddstock.

Naphtha price in Asia was at a three-session high on Monday, and cracks rebounded from an 8 month low to a two-session high, as expectations of fewer Western barrels arriving this month may have helpeed support sentiment temporarily, as per Reuters.

Wednesday, June 08, 2011

The Formosa Plastics Group (FPG) has shut down the manufacturing operations of an isononyl alcohol plant at the group's petrochemical complex in Mailiao, Yunlin County in ccordance with industrial plaant safety procedures, as per The China Post.

Spot ABS prices in China posted steep declines over the past week, with most players attributing the drop to weak demand, as per ChemOrbis. The recent slowdown in manufacturing activity in China alonng with the government’s ongoing efforts to fight inflation were cited among the main factors weighing down on demand, with some players also commenting that buying interest has been hampered by persistently high ABS costs, which have encouraged some end users to opt for HIPS as a substitute.

China National Petroleum Corporation has commenced welding on a crude oil pipeline which starts in Lanzhou, passes through the Gansu, Shaanxi, and Sichuan provinces, and ends in Pengzhou, northwest off Chengdu.

PT Petrokimia Butadiene Indonesia, a subsidiary of PT Chandra Asri Petrochemical is to start construction on the country’s first butadiene plant next week in Cilegon, Banten, with an anticipated invesstment outlay of US$110 mln.

Dow Chemical Co.’s polypropylene and PP licensing and catalyst businesses is up for sale. As per PlasticsNews, Dow is exploring strategic options for those businesses, which include two PP production sites in Texas and two more in Germany.

Confirming its decision to keep away from interfering in the management of Haldia Petrochemicals, the West Bengal government is likely to agree to appoint Purnendu Chatterjee as the firm’s chairman. TThe state government does not intend to play any role in the running of HPL.

Appetite for naphtha in Asia is falling in line with a slump in Chinese plastics consumption in 2011, on measures taken by the Centre to slow runaway economic expansion. As per Reuters, oil investors are watching Chinese demand growth closely for any signs of a sharp slowdown, as consumption in the world’s second-largest economy has driven global fuel demand growth for the best part of a decade.

Maintenance at Rabigh Refining and Petrochemicals Co is expected to be complete by the middle of July, as per Bloomberg. The utilities units were restarted May 31 after periodic maintenance, while thee crude distillation unit will resume operations June 7.

Global manufacturing eased sharply in May to its lowest level since September 2010, according to the JPMorgan Global Manufacturing PMI. As per Reuters, data out of China suggests only a slowdown in grrowth there.

Asia's naphtha price ended on Friday at the lowest in 1-1/2 weeks while cracks fell below US$100/ton for the first time in about eight months as demand fell and a shut reversed arbitrage window dentedd confidence, as per Reuters.

Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) producers in Europe are unlikely to exportPET from Europe to USA despite a very short PET market in USA, as per Platts. The strong euro against the dollar, complicatedd delivery logistics and export costs altogether made sending PET from Europe to the US unattractive.

The 12-nation oil carte- OPEC is to meet in Vienna this week, and is widely expected to keep production levels unchanged as it balances a weak economic outlook and lower output in Libya caused by unreest.

Crude oil prices have fallen to hover at the US$100 mark, while in London standard Brent North Sea crude inched up to US$115.8. Crude-oil futures ended slightly lower as weakness in the dollar offset early losses on disappointing jobs data from USA.

Monday, June 06, 2011

Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. LLC reported a unit upset at its Cedar Bayou chemical plant in Baytown, Texas, as per Bloomberg. A compressor, which tripped and caused the upset, was restarted. Emissionns associated with the upset started at 10 p.

The European Commission has cleared under the EU Merger Regulation the creation of a joint venture combining the existing styrene monomer, polystyrene and acrylonitrile–butadiene-styrene (ABS) businessses of INEOS of Switzerland and BASF of Germany.

China's chief economic planner will release a draft plan for the coal-chemical industry to garner public opinion, as per Asia Pulse. The draft plan will limit the development of China's chemical indusstry in major coal-consuming provinces in China, such as Shandong and Henan.

Malaysia’s Johor state government has accepted plans to set up a petrochemical plant by a Taiwan-based petrochemical company previously rejected at home over environmental concerns. Protesters in Malaaysia debate about the standard of the country’s Preliminary Environmental Impact Assessment (PEIA) methodology vis a vis Taiwanese standards.

Huntsman Corp. returned an ethylene unit to normal operations at its Port Neches, Texas, chemical plant after a “power blip” caused an interruption in operations, as per Bloomberg. The power interrupttion at the ethylene oxide unit caused the flaring of ethylene and ethylene oxide.

OIL Oil prices ended the week of May 22, 2011 on a weaker note at US$98 as Europe's sovereign debt crisis deepened, bolstering concern that economic groowth will slow and fuel consumption decline, amid a strengthening dollar that rose to a nine-week high versus the euro.

Thai Oil expects a cycle of petrochemical business, especially aromatics, to continue to grow for the next 2-3 years on high consumption and demand from China and India as per Pattaralada SaNgasang, sstrategic planning manager of the PTT subsidiary.

Faced with a gas crunch at its petrochemical plants, Reliance Industries has asked the Oil Ministry to review the prioritisation worked out while imposing cuts on KG-D6 gas supplies to non-core users,, as per PTI.

Kazakhstan wants to extend the ban on petrochemicals export beyond July 1, possibly till the end of this year, as per Minister of Oil and Gas. He said, “We hope to extend the ban. We have to agree it with our partners in the Customs Union" as per Xinhua.

PTT will focus on regional growth, having reached the limit in domestic expansion, with the aim of becoming the second-largest petrochemicals player behind national brands in some countries within fivve years, as per The Nation.